Time

To my Uncle Joe,

I am glad that you created the blog account. It's great that you are able to communicate about how your famliy is doing. I hope that everyone is well. I know that the family doesn't hear much from me often, so I just wanted to let you all that my family is doing fine.

CG

To have a home or not to have a home...

Dear Aneeda:

Things have been pretty crazy lately.  I got a notice on my door from a Realty Company saying that my landlord was being forclosed upon and I had to consider moving... I am really confused cause I don't know what to do... I have been living here for only a short time.  Should I move?  Should I stay?  Should I live under a bridge with a sign?  Please help me...

Sincerely,

Depressed and Maybe Homeless

Dearest Homeless:

So there I was... enjoying my morning pastry with a lovely cup of soothing camomile tea when I decided that I really should get to work.  The first letter I pick up is this one.  Imagine my serene,  albeit tea and pastry induced disposition,  being suddenly ripped into a thousand pieces by a blah blah blahing letter such as this... I know, I know, I should be more soothing, caring, understanding... etc. etc. etc... but you see my dear reader... I really don't care... so there... what have you to say now...  My advise is simply this... Get over it, find another place, and stop blahing!!! 

Sincerely

The fabulous Aneeda!!!

PS:  hope that helped!   

This week on "Dear Aneeda", I hear about a frustration, loneliness, loveless relationships, people leaving and others being annoying, but enough about my life and let's get on with it.

Dear Aneeda:

I live with my boyfriend and he just bought me a car. I should be happy, but he says that I have to start working to pay the car and insurance. And here I thought is was a gift. I am confused because I cook, clean, take care of HIS son and make sure he is up and ready for school everyday and then be a good girlfriend and start the day all over again. Should I confront him or just keep quite and get a job?

Sincerely,

Lips are Sealed!

Dear Lips:

In my day a lady never caused any discord in the home by confronting the man. She was a good housekeeper, baker, seamstress, took care of the kids and her husband. She was the very image of June Cleaver and never once questioned her man's motives or suggestions. But that was then and this is now. I say be strong and say something. If it was a gift then that is what it should be and not a calling card to bring up the fact that you have no job and don't really do anything around the house, call you names and are lousy in bed... wait that's my relationship... Ooooopppss.

Sorry honey what was your question? Oh well, till next time my dear readers. We'll talk to others and try to solve their problems. If you would like to ask Ms Aneeda a question please do... I will do everything I can to help.

Aneeda Mann

Anita was a character that I developed to help me deal with ongoing issues in the family as they arise. Using this character, I am able to put a positive and comical spin on an otherwise unfriendly situation. Instead of confontations, I use this medium to allow the reader to take what they can from the situation. It's a "Dear Abby" homage that I have alot of fun with.

In the coming posts, I will be putting some of these "Letters to Aneeda" on here so you can see what I mean. Hope you like. Please let me know.

WOW!

I have a friendly demeanor. Pretty much have all my life. My problem is that I let things build up and then become so frustrated that my encounters get a little heated. Maybe I get that from my Dad. He seemed so laid back until you pushed him too far then you really got it.

I have been having some issues with my neighbor who lives in the Garage Apt in the back of my duplex. She is a nice lady, too nice from what I came to know. She has friends stay over ALOT and when they are here, they use the drive way to park leaving me to park in the street. I have tried to deal with it and just thought, "well I could use the walk so no big deal". Then I would park in the drive way and I would get these notes not to do that. Then a note on the fence telling "strangers" not to park in the driveway cause it was parking for TENANTS ONLY and shouldn't be blocked. Well, I let that go then I had enough. Today I go down there because I see her friend is parked behind me in the driveway and I can't get out. Frustrated I let her know what I thought of her messages on my window and on the fence. I told her that I would just take it up with the landlord who knows nothing of her visitors.

Am I am _ _ _ hole? I pray that I can just deal with things as they come and not let them get to me. Was this about the parking or am I harboring other feelings inside? Oh, well it's back to therapy I guess. LOL

Family News

Thanks to big brother Fernando, I wanted to share what's going on with his family:

Grandson Mathew's Bday was on the 19th of February and they will be having a party for him on the 30th.

Sister in Law Mary will be going for visit in New York soon.

Brother Fern will be heading to Oklahoma to enjoy the open road and have some fun.

Son Cerrone had his 4 wisdom teeth removed this month and is doing good.

Thank you very much Fern for updating us on your family. Hope all is well and you are too. Take care big brother and God Bless You and your Family on their daily adventures as well as the ones that take them far away.

Monday

It's Monday and yes I have the day off, but I can't help but wonder what would I be doing if I was at work. Whenever I am off, I miss it. Don't get me wrong I love my time off, but I wonder if the students that I work with are getting everything they need; food, shelter, love, guidance... It's hard to imagine some of them getting the attention they deserve.

As a child I never really new anything about not having, cause my parents made sure that we had what we needed always. I look at families now and wonder how is it they are surviving on little income and a small house with two parents and lots of kids. Then I think back when I was a kid and think, "We lived in a two bedroom house with all us kids at one time." I don't remember being crowded. I remember having fun because there were more siblings to bother, to play with, and just plain have fun.

I don't remember ever thinking that we were poor cause I remember Dad always said, "Your mom and me will give you what you need, but if there is something that you want, then you have to work for that." When I was little I didn't understand, but as I grew older I got it. Needs and wants are two totally different things. We need food, clothes, shelter and love. We got what we needed. If we wanted different things (IE, games, name brand clothes, toys etc.) well we just worked for them.

I look back on those times and it doesn't seem strange at all that at an early age I started working. Mowing lawns, picking cucumbers in a field, whatever it took to get some money in my pocket. It was great and as a kid you don't have complaints, you just have fun. It's different today. Kids today expect everything handed to them. Allot of kids don't know the value of money. How to get it, use it, keep it, etc.

I try to teach the students I work with about the value of a dollar. I try to teach them that things in life are not free even if there is a sign that says, "FREE". There is always something you have to do to earn everything you want.

I miss those days when I was a kid and had no worries. Well I did worry which superhero I was gonna pretend to be when I was playing outside by myself. LOL. But other than that I had fun. I sometimes wish we had the technology to time travel. I wanna see me as a kid and tell me to keep having fun, keep doing as your parents tell you, keep going to church and keep saying ma'am and sir. It helped me allot.

I thank my parents a great deal, even if I didn't say it allot, for everything they gave me as a kid and as an adult.

Christmas @ Mom's

Family got together at mom's for a little Christmas Celebration. Had a great time, but we missed some family members that couldn't make it.

We had a great time. It was fun watching the kids open presents and the adults had some fun also with the White Elephant gift exchange...

We got together at Mom's to help Sandra celebrate her birthday. Made a cake and had a nice time hanging out and talking... Okay gossiping... LOL